Monday, May 27, 2013

Discerning the message and the medium

This
week I finished reading The
Life of the Body by Valerie Hess and Lane Arnold, the book we’ve been
discussing this month at The High Calling. This final section covered the
seasons of life, children, caring for the planet, and the conclusion.

As
it is sometimes wont to do, kept moving away from these final chapters and
toward another thought altogether (but there is a connection).

I
kept thinking about where we get our information from. Are we as Christians
discerning as we listen to news, watch entertainment, or read books (not to
mention everything online), or do we let the culture saturate us as it
saturates social, political and spiritual life around us?

What
came of all of this reading and reflection was a sensitivity to both words as
content and media as means to communicate those words/content. (Today we say “content”
to collectively include text, photos, art, audio and video.)

Most
of us, me included, usually focus on the words or content – the “message.” What
we understand less is how different media, or channels, favor some kinds of
content over others, and how these channels actually shape the message that’s
sent and/or received.

Video,
for example, like television programs, movies, network news reports, and
uploads to YouTube, appeals to the emotions, the feelings. This is even true
for documentaries. To fit the channel of video, a communication has to be
shaped in a particular way if it’s to be effective.

This
isn’t a complaint or regret, more a statement of what is. Watching a TED talk
is not the same thing as listening to a speech, because the screen itself frames
the talk, favoring certain kinds of content over others.

The
world I currently inhabit for work is that of social media. And it’s a world
that’s changing our ideas of authority – who has it, who we listen to, and who
is believable or credible. Twitter and Facebook, for example, expand our
understanding of authority to include our friends and networks. They
increasingly give us filters on news. This can be good (accuracy checks on news
media) and bad (205,000 people follow Roseanne Barr on Twitter and consider her
a credible source of information on news and public policy).

On
Twitter, everything you need to know has to be crammed into 140 characters.
Talk about minimalist communication. Nuclear disarmament, or understanding
international terrorism, in 140 characters. Or less.

This
is how many of us get our information on issues, controversies, and news – and “many
of us” includes Christians. Someone says something on a blog or Facebook,
someone else tweets it or pins it on Pinterest, and it’s considered of equal
importance and weight to what a Ph.D expert who’s spent decades researching and
studying has to say.

I’ve
taken
issue with a few things in The Life
of the Body, but to be fair, I’ve seen similar sentiments in Christianity Today, blogs belonging to
respected Christians, and Christians posting and commenting on Facebook. We
readily accept anything if someone we like or trust says it. Or we google a
topic and learn everything we need to know by simply scanning the first page of
search results.

Greater
discernment is crucial. We live in a time when virtually nothing can be taken
at face value. Just because it’s a trending topic on Twitter doesn’t mean it’s
true. Even something seemingly authoritative as a scientific journal has to be
examined. Did you know that there are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of “peer-reviewed”
scientific journals whose definition of “peer review” is a Visa card?

Retweets
on Twitter and shares and likes on Facebook are not measures of truth. Volume
does not equate to truth. Truth isn’t a popularity contest – the prime example
of that being the life of Jesus.

We’ve
been discussing The Life of the Body
at The High Calling, even if I
went off the track today and discussed it by not discussing it. Check The High Calling for the main post
and comments.

I can think of nothing that isn't shaped to deliver a particular message in a particular way. Any time we pick up a book, read a newspaper article, scan a post on some social media site, watch the news, go to the movies, listen to a political speech, we are getting a message we've had no hand in shaping, until we pass it on, augmented or not. How to become more discerning, when so much gets passed on without being given a second thought, remains a profound challenge. It takes each of us being willing not only to investigate more deeply but to make known our findings if and when and where truth is revealed. As we've seen again and again, however, even truth can be manipulated by both its bearer and its receiver.

Good words, Glynn. One thing this online life has taught me is that there is always more than one side of the story. Living with Social media--I think--has taught me to be a better consumer and a better critical thinker. Thanks for reading along with us. I always enjoy your thoughts.

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Professional writer exploring faith and culture, life and work; happily married to Janet, the love of my life; father of two grown sons. Award-winning speechwriter and communication consultant. I am an editor for TweetSpeak Poetry and the author of the novels "Dancing Priest," "A Light Shining," and "Dancing King," and the non-fiction book "Poetry at Work."